The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon, signaling that the night had gone and that morning now reigned. But even as the light streaked through the window and rested upon Diana's face, she never lifted her eyes for even a moment as she continued to gaze down at her student.
Sunset was fast asleep in her bed, breathing softly while Diana watched over her. Diana had brought Sunset home the moment she had found her wounded in the park, learning her address by using the lasso of truth on a postal worker that she had spotted from above. It was only now that she realized she had never apologized to the man.
'How is she?' the voice of Athena spoke from behind Diana.
"She is finally resting and her fever died down earlier this morning," Diana informed the goddess without turning around. Athena alighted on Diana's shoulder, resting there and gazing down at Sunset with concern. "However, she is still incredibly weak from her battle last night and will most likely not be back at one hundred percent for some time."
'Why not give her the medicine that Hermes entrusted to you? You have given it to her before?' Athena asked. Diana's response was to hand her a now empty vial.
"I gave Sunset the remainder of it last night, when I got her here. It was able to heal her wounds, but..." Diana trailed off. Sensing that Diana no longer wished to speak, Athena glanced around at the small apartment that Sunset called home. It amazed the goddess how similar it was compared to Diana's; only the bare essentials: A table. A fridge. Her bed. And numerous books all over the place.
'Then again, she does live by herself,' Athena figured. The sun slowly continued to rise as the pair sat in silence, gazing over the sleeping student. Then in a flash Diana struck the side cabinet with her fist, blasting it into splinters while the air exploded from the force of the blow. Athena leaped off of Diana's shoulders and hovered in the air above her, able to see her fury radiating from her body.
'You look like Ares did when he got mad,' Athena informed Diana.
"I should have been there," Diana whispered, yet the very air around her trembled in fear of her power. "I let my guard down and Hades nearly claimed Sunset because of my lapse of judgment. He will pay for this. I swear to Zeus that he will pay."
'And I am certain that he will, but right now you have other matters to attend to," Athena reminded Diana. When Diana gave her a questioning look that would have terrified anyone other than the goddess, Athena tilted her head towards a clock on the wall. 'It is almost time for class to start. You have already missed your morning tutoring sessions with Rainbow Dash and the other students. Are you going to miss class as well?'
"To Hades with the class. I will not abandon Sunset again when she is like this," Diana swore. Athena shook her head before landing on the bed before Diana, gazing up with eyes that were filled with wisdom.
'While that is noble and kind of you, you are of little use to Sunset right now. The wiser decision would be to go to Canterlot High and find out what you can about the enemy that attacked Sunset last night,' Athena instructed Diana. Diana wished to argue that she would stay, but she knew better than to question Athena's wisdom.
"How can I do that? The only person that was there when the attacker appeared was..."
'I see that you are starting to think straight again. Yes, Sunset might have been the one that fought with the creature, but there was another student that warned us of their plight.'
"Yes, there was. Watch over Sunset for me and alert me the moment there is any change...or if Hades comes for her again." Diana said no more words after that. She instead left the small apartment and took to the skies, hurtling towards Canterlot High. It wasn't until she was floating above the school that she realized that she was still in her Amazonian garb.
With the power of her lasso she returned to her teacher's outfit once more. She touched down at the school entrance after making sure that there was no one around to see her fly in. It took all of Diana's efforts to not tear the doors off of their hinges as she entered into the building.
"Well, look who it is," Sombra said with a smirk when he spotted Diana. "Celestia wasn't happy when you didn't show up for tutoring today. Had to hand it off to me instead. The students weren't happy either and I bet that-" Whatever else Sombra had to say was silenced, for Diana spun her head to face him with the wrath of a goddess flashing in her eyes. Sombra fell over with sheer terror while trying to cower away from her gaze.
Diana left the man lying in a pool of his own sweat, heading in the direction of Cranky's classroom. From what Sunset had told her about her friends and their schedules, she knew that Applejack was in Cranky's class first thing in the morning. Upon finding the classroom, she rapped her knuckles against the door twice before hurling it open so she could enter.
"Uh, Miss Diana?" Cranky said with some confusion when she stormed into the room. "Can I help you?"
"Yes, you can. I need to borrow Applejack," Diana instructed. Without waiting for his answer Diana walked over to Applejack and motioned for her to follow Diana.
"What's this all about?" AJ asked.
"I'll tell you outside," Diana replied before practically lifting Applejack out of her seat and walking her towards the exit.
"Wait a moment Diana, you can't just-"
Diana snapped her head around with such ferocity and rage in her eyes that every student in the room, along with the teacher, practically leapt back from her gaze alone. For a long moment no one dared to even breathe, and if one of them had looked at the clock, they would have seen that even time had frozen in fear of the Amazon's wrath. Then Diana turned her gaze away from the students and ushered Applejack out the door. The students and Cranky all let out a sigh of relief as she exited.
"Alright, back to listening. And don't any of you do anything that brings her back in," Cranky warned them while wiping his brow with his sleeve.
=wWw=
Out in the back of the school, near the dirt bike track that had yet to be taken down, Diana essentially dragged Applejack with her. AJ had tried multiple times to break Diana's grip and ask her what was going on, but Diana's strength made Big Mac seem pathetic in comparison.
"Ouch. Geez ya have one nasty grip," Applejack complained when Diana finally let go of her shoulder. "Mighty rude of you just dragging me out of class like that," AJ remarked while rubbing her sore shoulder.
"I need you to tell me everything you know about the creature that attacked you and Sunset the other day," Diana said. From the way the teacher crossed her arms and glared down at Applejack, it was clear to the student that Diana didn't want to hear any questions or remarks.
"Ah don't know that much. We were walking along, talking with one another, when suddenly that...skull knight appeared out of the sky and attacked us," Applejack began to explain, but she had questions of her own forming about the monster...and Diana. "It pointed its sword at us and told us not to run, but we didn't listen to it. It then went after Sunset, talking to her in a manner that made it seem like the two knew each other. Or at least, it knew her."
"So, that would make it someone from either this world or Sunset's other world," Diana muttered to herself, just quiet enough so that AJ couldn't hear. "What happened next?"
"Sunset told me that we needed to split up, since it was after her. She told me to get our friends...or you." Diana saw suspicion in Applejack's eyes as she said this.
'Why would she tell me to get you?' Diana thought to herself, practically reading AJ's mind. 'You're a teacher while our friends have the greatest magic in this world. Unless you're more than just a teacher.'
"And that's exactly what ah did," AJ continued, not asking the question that Diana thought she would. "Ah came to the school and found ya almost immediately. Then ya took off with a speed ah wouldn't give ya credit fer, and I know nothing else that's happened, and I've been worried out of mah mind fer my friend. Now yer going to answer a question fer me. What happened to Sunset?"
The look of concern and fury that AJ gave Diana impressed the teacher, but she kept her face neutral. "Sunset was badly injured by the skeletal creature. When I found her, she had lost a lot of blood and was barely conscious. I rushed her to her home and tended to her wounds. She's sleeping there as we speak."
"And ya left her all alone? What if that thing comes back?! What happened to that thing anyway?!" AJ yelled at Diana.
"She is not alone. Athena is watching over her," Diana said in a voice so stern that any other outbursts were silenced before they could start. "As for what that thing was, I truly have no idea. I did not see it, I arrived after it had already left. All I know of it is what little you have told me."
"All ah remember is that it wore bone-like armor and had a sword as red as Sunset's hair," AJ said with a cold tone of her own.
"Thank you for telling me about this. You may go back to class now," Diana instructed as she turned and started to walk away.
"Sunset showed up at this school a long time ago and strange things started happening. Then three girls known as the Sirens appeared at the school and mind-controlled everyone to make the fight. Then Twilight showed up and started to suck the magic out of us," Applejack began. It wasn't her words, but rather her tone that made Diana turn around to face the student once more.
"Are you trying to imply something, Applejack?" Diana asked. Applejack replied with a long stare.
"Then Sunset starts getting horrible nightmares right before a new and mysterious teacher shows up, a teacher that is smart, fast, and stronger than any human should be," Applejack continued. "And then a giant zombie monster shows up along with a skull knight, not long after that teacher." Diana's eyes narrowed before she walked up to Applejack, towering over her with a stern glare. But to Applejack's credit, she glared right back up at Diana without giving an inch.
"If you have something you wish to say to me Applejack, then please say it to my face."
"Yer a part of the strange things that have been going on around here. Ah don't know if yer the cause of what's been going on or if yer trying to stop it, but there is far more to ya then yer letting on," Applejack said in a whisper. Diana didn't bother saying whether Applejack was right or not. Both of them knew that she was.
"And if what you say is true, what will you do next?" Diana asked. Applejack went silent for a long time after that, so long that the bell for the next period rang while she was thinking. Then, after nearly twenty minutes, she let out a sigh and shrugged her shoulders.
"Sunset trusts ya, to the point where she told me to get ya when a monster was chasing after her. While ah may not trust ya entirely, ah trust Sunset. And since she hasn't told anyone about ya, then ah guess it's not my place to say anything either," AJ finally said before turning and walking away. Then she stopped and glanced over her shoulder at Diana. "But if ya are on our side and are trying to stop these attacks, then ya need to get a move on. Yesterday showed that ya can't protect all of us at the same time."
Diana remained silent as Applejack walked back to class, a smirk on her face at the tone that the student had taken with the goddess. 'But she's right. I haven't been doing enough to stop Hades' plans,' she realized as she too started to head back to her classes. 'And now I know he won't stop until he gets their magic. But what can I do? I can't give him their magic or else gods know what he'd do with it. But I can't keep defending these girls all of my life--and theirs. What should I do?'
=wWw=
Hades sighed to himself as he closed his portal to the other world, having seen enough disappointment for one day. 'But clearly today is a day for constant annoyance for me,' he thought as he spied the cloaked creature storming towards him. Hades might not have been able to see the being's face, but he knew all too well when a being was angry with him.
"You acted without consulting me. That was foolish," the being scorned.
"You may be angry, but we agreed that we would work together. I never said that I would tell you of all my plans or that I would stop trying to gather the magic in my own way," Hades shot back with a smirk at the being's anger. "You also told me not to send in any more of these dead souls to that world. Instead, I simply empowered someone there who was already loyal to me."
"You are making grave errors. Every time you show Diana more of your hand, you are giving her more knowledge to arm herself for her next move," the being snarled at Hades before using his shattered magic to open up his own portal with which to view the land. "And worst of all, Sunset still lives. This world has gone so far off course from what I had planned that it almost makes me want to stop observing it. Almost. Not quite. Never."
"Seems that you're the one who is bound to this world, now that you must know how it ends," Hades muttered to himself while also rolling around the soul he was holding in his hand...before creating a silver dagger out of blackness. "You're not as powerful as you believed. But..." he continued as he hid the dagger in the shadows once more. "I can still use you."
"For you see, I have a plan," Hades informed the being, who turned around to glare at the God of the Dead.
"And what manner of plan be that?"
"The only reason Diana has had so much success at thwarting us, is that she can hide away next to the humans as one of them. But if she was to be revealed for what she really is, then she would be placed in a far less...advantageous position," Hades explained as he waved his hand and brought up an image that interested the being. "All we must do is wait a little while longer. And then I shall send in one of my strongest souls to show that world what she really is...and why they should fear her."